{"id":4662,"date":"2025-08-17T10:19:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T10:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/4662\/"},"modified":"2025-08-17T10:19:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T10:19:09","slug":"j-e-birks-vermont-settings-reflect-her-idealized-hometown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/4662\/","title":{"rendered":"J.E. Birk’s Vermont settings reflect her idealized hometown"},"content":{"rendered":"

J.E. Birk<\/strong>, also known as Johanna Parkhurst, writes LGBTQ+ fiction and romance. She is a long-time lover of all types of genre fiction, and serves as director of the MA\/MFA Genre Fiction program at Western Colorado University. Raised in Vermont, she now lives in Pueblo and enjoys paddleboarding, skiing, and traveling.<\/p>\n

SunLit: Tell us this book\u2019s backstory \u2013 what\u2019s it about and what inspired you to write it?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

J.E. Birk:<\/strong> This entire series (the Devon Falls series) is inspired by the area of Vermont I grew up in. Devon Falls is, in many ways, the most idealized version of everything I loved about my childhood and small town life in Vermont. In this series, I wanted to take serious topics like grief and trauma and explore them through a lens of humor and hope.<\/p>\n

UNDERWRITTEN BY<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Each week, The Colorado Sun and Colorado Humanities & Center For The Book feature an excerpt from a Colorado book and an interview with the author. Explore the SunLit archives at\u00a0coloradosun.com\/sunlit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

SunLit: Place the excerpt you selected in context. How does it fit into the book as a whole and why did you select it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Birk:<\/strong> This excerpt is from a chapter of the book where Sam attends a Devon Falls town meeting and begins to realize how much his past and his grief over the loss of his husband may be affecting his ability to move forward with his own life. I chose this chapter because the town meeting scenes in the Devon Falls books showcase how the community functions and interacts, and in this scene we see both Sam and Malachai\u2019s character wounds on full display.<\/p>\n

SunLit: What influences and\/or experiences informed the project before you sat down to write?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Birk:<\/strong> I dealt with some bullying as a child, and many of Malachai\u2019s experiences were informed by my own explorations of how childhood bullying has affected me as an adult. And the Devon Falls Leaf Festival, which takes place in every book in this series, is very much inspired by the Vermont small town festivals I adored as a child.<\/p>\n

\u201cForbidden in the Falls\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n

>> Read an excerpt<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n

Where to find it<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

SunLit<\/strong> present new excerpts from some of the best Colorado authors that not only spin engaging narratives but also illuminate who we are as a community. Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n

SunLit: What did the process of writing this book add to your knowledge and understanding of your craft and\/or the subject matter?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Birk:<\/strong> I deeply love the study of craft (I teach the craft of genre fiction writing in a graduate program), so every book I write is an exercise in exploring craft techniques I\u2019m studying and thinking about. In \u201cForbidden in the Falls,\u201d I was particularly focused on how we as writers can use internal character development and externalized moments of plot to further the way a book\u2019s theme appears on the page.\u00a0<\/p>\n

SunLit: What were the biggest challenges you faced in writing this book?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Birk:<\/strong> This book was a hard one to write in general, largely because Malachai and Sam both face so much emotional trauma from their past. Writing their stories in a way that stayed true to the tone of Devon Falls\u2014where there\u2019s always some comedy in balance with the drama\u2014was tough at times!<\/p>\n

SunLit: What do you want readers to take from this book?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Birk:<\/strong> I hope readers leave this book feeling inspired to make the communities they live and work in more inclusive, caring, and kind.<\/p>\n

SunLit: What would you do at the Devon Falls Leaf Festival if you were able to attend?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Birk:<\/strong> No Vermont festival is complete without maple cotton candy, in my opinion! I\u2019d eat myself sick on it.<\/p>\n

SunLit: Tell us about your next project.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Birk:<\/strong> \u201cFanboy in the Falls,\u201d the third book in this series, released in June, so that\u2019s been my primary focus of late! Several of the characters from \u201cForbidden in the Falls\u201d feature prominently in that book. I\u2019m also working on the fourth book in the series right now.<\/p>\n

A few more quick items<\/strong><\/p>\n

Currently on your nightstand for recreational reading:<\/strong> \u201cNinth House\u201d by Leigh Bardugo<\/p>\n

First book you remember really making an impression on you as a kid:<\/strong> \u201cThe Baby-Sitters Club\u201d series<\/p>\n

Best writing advice you\u2019ve ever received:<\/strong> Write without fear or shame!<\/p>\n

Favorite fictional literary character: <\/strong>I could never choose\u2026I have too many.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Literary guilty pleasure (title or genre):<\/strong> I don\u2019t think we ever feel guilty about reading what we love! Books are magic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Digital, print or audio \u2013 favorite medium to consume literature:<\/strong> Digital, but only because I love to travel and e-readers save me so much suitcase room.<\/p>\n

One book you\u2019ve read multiple times:<\/strong> I\u2019m a big re-reader, so every book I love gets read multiple times!<\/p>\n

Other than writing utensils, one thing you must have within reach when you write: <\/strong>Usually tea or coffee.<\/p>\n

Best antidote for writer\u2019s block: <\/strong>Open the manuscript and stare. \ud83d\ude0a\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most valuable beta reader:<\/strong> I have so many, and I deeply appreciate every single one of them! I will quickly shout out two of my co-writers, Leslie McAdam and Rachel Ember. I\u2019ve written two books with them (both set in the same universe as the Devon Falls series). Leslie and Rachel are often the earliest readers of my new ideas, and I learn so much from working with them both.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Type of Story: Q&A<\/p>\n

An interview to provide a relevant perspective, edited for clarity and not fully fact-checked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"J.E. Birk, also known as Johanna Parkhurst, writes LGBTQ+ fiction and romance. She is a long-time lover of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":[359,18,117,4870,19,17,1678,4871],"class_list":{"0":"post-4662","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-fiction","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-lgbtq","15":"tag-romance"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}